Films Famous, Fanciful, Frolicsome & Fantastic [Paperback]

John H. Reid (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 5, 2006

Remember "Humpy", the talking camel? You'll find him in this book, along with a host of other legendary characters from Alice in Wonderland through the Mysterious Mr Wong to Wild Bill Hickok. Movie stars featured include Lon Chaney, Kay Francis, Buster Keaton, Greta Garbo, Constance Bennett, Adolphe Menjou and Will Rogers. Directors include John Ford, Cecil B. DeMille, Ernst Lubitsch and Fred Zinnemann. It all adds up to many hours of pleasure for classic movie fans who can thumb through details of award-winning films, popular pictures, and little-known masterpieces that deserve wider recognition. Yes, there are famous "B" movies too, like "Sleepers West" and its re-make, "The Narrow Margin".

Product Details

• Paperback: 260 pages
• Publisher: Lulu.com (April 5, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1411689151
• ISBN-13: 978-1411689152
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,508,351 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

John Howard Reid is the creator of Merryll Manning, the Miami-based police sergeant who made his debut in "Merryll Manning: Trapped on Mystery Island". This book was followed by "Merryll Manning: The Health Farm Murders" and "Merryll Manning: Beachfront Holiday". Next up is "Merryll Manning On the Rim of Heaven."

All 12 books in the series were published overseas from 1985 through 2001. All, except "Merryll Manning: Trapped on Mystery Island", were runaway bestsellers and ran through many editions, including hardcover, paperback (both trade and mass market) and Large Print.

All 12 novels except "Merryll Manning: Beyond Vengeance", on which the critics were divided, attracted highly favorable and indeed overwhelmingly enthusiastic reviews. The author was favorably compared with both Agatha Christie and Graham Greene.

Reid's historical novels, especially "In All His Glory" (set in Ancient Egypt), have also won wide acclaim. His short stories and poems have gained many prizes and commendations. Published prose collections include "Mexican Autumn" and "Micaela Morris in Jo's Heaven". Poetry anthologies include "Anyone for Love?", "Escape to Paradise and Other Poetic Fancies" (published under his "Tom Howard" pseudonym) and "A Salute to Spanish Poetry: 100 Masterpieces from Spain and Latin America rendered into English verse."

Reid is also a widely acknowledged expert on Hollywood movies. His latest book in this field is "Mystery, Suspense, Film Noir and Detective Movies on DVD: A Guide to the Best in Cinema Thrills".

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A First-Rate Feast for Classic Movie Fans, January 12, 2008

By 

John Howard Reid (Wyong, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Films Famous, Fanciful, Frolicsome & Fantastic (Paperback)

Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers were re-united in "The Barkleys of Broadway", as featured on the color cover of this well-produced book. Now that is certainly a movie that aptly fits the title description of famous, fanciful, frolicsome and fantastic. So do pictures like "The Quiet Man", "The 5,000 Fingers of Dr T", "It's in the Bag", "Fiddlers Three", "The Band Wagon", "Babes on Broadway", "Arabian Nights", "Alice in Wonderland", "Orphans of the Storm", "Alias Nick Beal", "Slave Girl", "Chad Hanna", "Gulliver's Travels", "The Man Who Knew Too Much", "Flirtation Walk", "The Marriage Circle", "Aloma of the South Seas", "Heartbeat", "Old Wives for New", "Miss Lulu Bett" and "Green Pastures".

Other pictures that qualify on all four counts include "Monsoon", "Robinson Crusoe of Clipper Island", "The Return of Chandu", "The Bribe", "Elephant Walk", "Fort Algiers", "White Orchid", "Jungle Jim", "Steamboat Bill, Junior", "Underwater!" and so on. Plus the movie that director John Farrow told me was his best picture ever! (Hint: I've already listed it. The star is his favorite actor, Ray Milland).

Three counts out of four movies are plentiful too: "A Foreign Affair", "The Smallest Show On Earth", "Speak Easily", "Beauty and the Boss", "Rope", "The Tall Target", "The Strange Love of Molly Louvain", "Ruby Gentry", "Torrent", both versions of Lon Chaney's "The Unholy Three", "Fun in Acapulco", "The Window", etc.

In fact, over 160 movies are detailed and reviewed in this large-format, 256-page book. Plus a monograph on director of Fred Zinnemann. 35 pages of illustrations, plus full-color covers. All the movies are arranged alphabetically for easy reference, with full cast and credits, plus release and other background information, as well as up-to-date reviews.